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Draft:Fractal superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors

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  • Comment: In accordance with Wikipedia's Conflict of interest policy, I disclose that I have a conflict of interest regarding the subject of this article. PhotoniQ (talk) 09:33, 7 April 2025 (UTC)


Fractal superconducting nanowire single photon detectors

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As proposed in 2015.[1]and subsequently demonstrated[2], fractal superconducting nanowire single photon detectors, or, in abbreviation, fractal SNSPDs, are one type of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs), in which the superconducting nanowires used as photosensors are designed and patterned into fractal space-filling curves, such as, but not limited to, Peano curves[3]. Fractal SNSPDs can efficiently detect single photons in any polarization state[2][4],which is the key feature that distinguishes them from the commonly used meandering SNSPDs. The superconducting materials used for making the fractal SNSPDs can be NbTiN thin films with a thickness of less than 10 nm, usually deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering, and can also be other superconducting materials that are typically used for making SNSPDs. The width of the nanowires is generally tens of nanometers, and they are made by "top-down" nanofabrication technology[5].

Researchers improved the design by using so-called arced fractal curves (the second-generation fractal SNSPDs) so that the system detection efficiency and the timing properties were both improved[3]. Now, in the 1550 nm telecom band, coupled with single-mode optical fiber, the system detection efficiency of the fractal SNSPD reaches 91%[6]; in the 930 nm band, it reaches 96%[7]. Researchers also demonstrated fractal SNSPDs with expanded photosensitive area and coupled with multimode optical fibers[8].

The applications of the fractal SNSPDs include the measurements of the correlation functions of photons[7] and the fluorescence lifetime of single-photon sources[9], full-Stokes polarimetric imaging LiDAR[10][11], single-pixel imaging[12], non-line-of-sight imaging[13], and dual-comb ranging [14]. Based on the fractal SNSPDs, photon-counting spectrometers are demonstrated[15]

References

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  1. ^ C. Gu, Y. Cheng, X. Zhu, X. Hu, “Fractal-Inspired, Polarization-Insensitive Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors,” Advanced Photonics Conference 2015, paper JM3A-10, Boston, Massachusetts United States, June 27 – July 1, 2015.
  2. ^ a b X. Chi, K. Zou, C. Gu, J. Zichi, Y. Cheng, N. Hu, X. Lan, S. Chen, Z. Lin, V. Zwiller, and X. Hu, “Fractal superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors with reduced polarization sensitivity,” Opt. Lett. 43 (20), 5017-5020 (2018).
  3. ^ a b H. Sagan, Space-Filling Curves (Springer, 2012).
  4. ^ Y. Meng, K. Zou, N. Hu, L. Xu, X. Lan, S. Steinhauer, S. Gyger, V. Zwiller, and X. Hu, “Fractal superconducting nanowires detect infrared single photons with 84% system detection efficiency, 1.02 polarization sensitivity, and 20.8 ps timing resolution,” ACS Photonics 9 (5), 1547-1553 (2022).
  5. ^ K. Zou and X. Hu, “Fabrication Development of High-Performance Fractal Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors,” IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics 31 (5), 3801410 (2025).
  6. ^ K. Zou, Z. Hao, Y. Feng, Y. Meng, N. Hu, S. Steinhauer, S. Gyger, V. Zwiller, and X. Hu, “Fractal superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors working in dual bands and their applications in free-space and underwater hybrid LIDAR,” Opt. Lett. 48 (2), 415-418 (2023).
  7. ^ a b Z. Hao, K. Zou, Y. Meng, J.-Y. Yan, F. Li, Y. Huo, C.-Y. Jin, F. Liu, T. Descamps, A. Iovan, V. Zwiller, and X. Hu, “High-performance eight-channel system with fractal superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors,” Chip 3 (2), 100087 (2024).
  8. ^ K. Zou, Y. Meng, Z. Hao, S. Li, A. Iovan, T. Descamps, V. Zwiller, and X. Hu, “Speckle-Insensitive Fractal Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detector Coupled with Multimode Optical Fiber,” Laser & Photonics Reviews 18 (10), 2400342 (2024).
  9. ^ J. Yan, S. Liu, X. Lin, Y. Ye, J. Yu, L. Wang, Y. Yu, Y. Zhao, Y. Meng, X. Hu, D. Wang, C. Jin, F. Liu, “Double-pulse generation of indistinguishable single photons with optically controlled polarization”, Nano Lett. 22 (4), 1483-1490 (2022).
  10. ^ N. Hu, Y. Meng, K. Zou, Y. Feng, Z. Hao, S. Steinhauer, S. Gyger, V. Zwiller, and X. Hu, “Full-Stokes polarimetric measurements and imaging using a fractal superconducting nanowire single-photon detector,” Optica 9 (4), 346-351 (2022).
  11. ^ Y. Meng, K. Zou, Z. Hao, S. Li, T. Descamps, A. Iovan, V. Zwiller, and X. Hu, “Kilometer-range, full-Stokes polarimetric imaging LiDAR using fractal superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors,” Applied Physics Letters 125 (4), 0411040 (2024).
  12. ^ K. Zou, Y. Meng, S. Li, and X. Hu, “Three-dimensional single-pixel imaging using a fractal superconducting nanowire single-photon detector,” Optics Express 33 (1), 1212-1221, (2025).
  13. ^ Y. Feng, X. Cui, Y. Meng, X. Yin, K. Zou, Z. Hao, J. Yang, and X. Hu, “Non-line-of-sight imaging at infrared wavelengths using a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector,” Optics Express 31 (25), 42240-42254 (2023).
  14. ^ Y. Meng, Y. Shi, K. Zou, Y. Song, and X. Hu, “Long-distance and high-precision ranging with dual-comb nonlinear asynchronous optical sampling,” Optics Express 32 (11), 20166-20174 (2024).
  15. ^ Y. Xiao et al., “Superconducting single-photon spectrometer with 3D-printed photonic-crystal filters,” ACS Photon., vol. 9, no. 10, pp. 3450–3456, 2022.
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